


holding me together

by aarobron



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Prison Talk, Robron Week 2017, The Footbridge Of Doom™, Wedding Night, Who doesnt, sad boys, you all love a bit of footbridge angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 13:48:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10023536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aarobron/pseuds/aarobron
Summary: robron week 2017: marriageHe loves Aaron, with his life and every cell of his body, with his mind and organs and soul.He loves Aaron with everything he has, with everything he has been and ever will be.He tells him so, pressed to his back; the words slipping onto Aaron's skin, encasing him and protecting him from all the bad things Robert wants to hide him from, until his mind tires out and body exhausts itself.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i managed to post something for robron week, can you believe it? neither can i
> 
> i am not happy with this at all but i just wasnt getting anywhere honestly
> 
> repost bc it didnt show up first time

It's their _wedding night_.

It's not like Robert hasn't had a wedding night before, but this one is different.

Last time, it was autopilot. He loved Chrissie, but he wasn't in love with her - it was just the next step in their relationship, obvious and unsurprising. He wasn't even nervous before the wedding, nothing compared to today, to the way his heart sat in his throat and his hands shook and tears were threatening to spill.

And then there was the shadow of death hanging over him, too.

God, what an awful wedding night.

So he's determined to make this one right.

He'd made it soppy, sure, and it was a cliché, definitely, but it was worth it to see the look on his husband's(!) face when he opened the door.

He watched as Aaron took in the rose petals on the bed, the champagne on the side, the candles dotted around the room.

He breathed as Aaron turned to him, crushed him in a hug and then kissed him senseless.

He cried as Aaron told him he loved him.

And then they'd made love. It was making love, literally, because Robert had honestly never felt like he had in that moment. He felt safe and secure, certain of his future for the first time in his life, like finally, _finally_ , things were right where he wanted them to be.

For the first time in his life, he hadn't felt like he was out of his depth.

He loves Aaron, with his life and every cell of his body, with his mind and organs and soul.

He loves Aaron with everything he has, with everything he has been and ever will be.

He tells him so, pressed to his back; the words slipping onto Aaron's skin, encasing him and protecting him from all the bad things Robert wants to hide him from, until his mind tires out and body exhausts itself.

He listens to Aaron's breath, to the way his nose exhales quick, quicker, then suddenly deep and even, lips parted on a smile and dark eyelashes brushing his cheeks.

Robert loves him even like this, defenseless and warm. He wonders what Aaron's dreaming, sometimes, and wonders if he'd love those too.

He really can't think of anything he wouldn't love about Aaron.

And when he falls asleep, he's safe in this knowledge. He's safe in the fact that he loves Aaron, that Aaron loves him, and he's safe in the way they've overcome everything, pushed through all the bad times to finally spend the rest of their lives together.

Robert's always thought that forever seems like a long time. Too long maybe, but now he doesn't mind it, not really – as long as Aaron's by his side for the whole journey.

+++

When he wakes, he feels wrong.

He turns his head slightly, shifts to the left. The clock is glaring at him, red and ominous numbers at 4:07. He doesn't know why he's awake until he turns again.

He feels his heart clench at Aaron's empty side of the bed, like not being next to him is impossible. 

It reminds him that he just needs to get used to it.

He pushes through the fog that he's come to name as The Sentencing Day Blues (if you can't joke now, when can you?) and forces himself out of bed, to get dressed, to _walk_.

When Aaron isn't downstairs, he knows exactly where he'll be.

He's right, too, and for a moment congratulates himself on knowing his husband so well, but the thought's left half dead in his brain as he sees Aaron leaning against the bridge, shaking and shivering and gasping. 

"Hey," He whispers quietly, letting his fingertips rest just so between Aaron's shoulder blades. "You can talk to me, you know."

Aaron looks up then, tears sparkling in the light, and Robert just wants to fight the person that put that look on his face. He knows he did it, his own fault, but then it was Finn who called the police, _so_. "I am so fucking scared." Aaron admits, voice breaking on the last syllable, and yeah, Robert thinks. He's going to ruin Finn Barton.

"You'll be alright," He whispers, folding his arms around his husband. "You'll get through it." He breathes through his nose and tries to tell himself the same thing. It almost works, almost, but there's still an echo in his mind that Aaron will get sent down, that it could be for months, even years. He curls his fingers a little tighter in Aaron's hoodie.

"Will you wait for me?" Aaron asks quietly, in a hushed, broken voice that Robert fucking _hates_. He can't see the tears, but he can feel them, on his skin, in his bones, in his veins. "If it's years... Will you still be there?"

Robert pulls back slightly, draws from the strength he reserves only for Aaron and places both hands on his husband's shoulders. "I would wait forever for you," He says earnestly. Aaron looks up at him, blinks twice, then he's crying again, full-bodied sobs that shake him through. Robert pulls him in, bunches one hand in his hoodie and the other in his hair. "Tell me what to do. Tell me what I can do for you." 

"Just love me," Aaron sobs quietly, through hiccups and the sound of the stream running. "Love me and never leave me." 

Robert doesn't think he could ever do anything else. He presses his lips to Aaron's temple, blinks away the tears and holds his husband a bit tighter. "You and me, forever."

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr @ aarobron x


End file.
